Rotala colorata won't pink up in low tech, is it light or iron?
Running a 20 long on a single LED, no CO2, root tabs only. Colorata stays green and leggy at the top instead of going pink. Pic below of the jar tank on my windowsill, which is where my spare cuttings are sitting and they're actually colouring better than the main tank. Does that point to light being the issue or should I start dosing iron?
5 comments
windowsill doing better than the tank says light to me. the single LED is probably too weak for rotala up top, iron helps color but it won't fix leggy.
agree, i'd raise the light or move the stems closer to it before adding anything. a bit of iron after that if the tips still look pale.
pete, also check your photoperiod. 8 hours on a weak LED is about the minimum for colorata, and if you can go 9 or 10 with the light closer it'll pink up faster than any iron dose.
good call shrimplord, it's on a 7 hour timer right now so that's an easy fix. i'll bump it to 9 and drop the fixture a few inches, then post the tips in two weeks.
pete when you drop the fixture watch the top few cm of stems for melt in the first week. rotala sometimes sulks when light jumps up fast, so ease into the 9 hours if you can.
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